Like a Bridge Over Troubled Waters

My year-old Bichon awakened with a shriek at 1:30 in the morning. I threw off my covers and turned on the light. He was standing in his crate, shivering. Whining. His eyes fixed on mine. I got to my knees and gently coaxed him to me. When he left the crate, I snuggled him to my chest, and as we rocked back and forth, I whispered in his ear, “You’ve had a bad dream.”

It was not long before Frenchie was back in his crate, settling down to go back to sleep.

In the morning, as I replayed what happened a few hours earlier, the distant memory of one of Paul Simon’s songs floated into my thoughts. “When you're weary, feeling small. When tears are in your eyes, I'll dry them all. I'm on your side, oh, when times get rough, and friends just can't be found, like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down. Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down.”
“When you're down and out, when you're on the street. When evening falls so hard, I will comfort you. I'll take your part, oh, when darkness comes, and pain is all around, like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down.”

I don’t know what Simon was thinking when he wrote those lyrics back in 1969, but at 7:00 that morning, I could tell you what they meant to me:  I love Frenchie. And though he startled me from sleep, I was glad to comfort him. But OH! God's love for me and for you cannot begin to compare with our love for anything or anyone in this life. His longing to rock us, to comfort us -- how can we even compare such a difference in the same paragraph?

And it is because He loves us so incredibly much, it is because He longs to comfort us that when we’re weary, when we’re feeling small, when tears are in our eyes – He comes to us.
When friends cannot be found, when darkness falls across our lives, when pain is all around – He comes to us. On His knees, He bends down and coaxes us, gently tugging us to Himself. To hold us. To comfort us. To rock us.

Whatever our need, whatever our fears, whatever our nightmares – Jesus lays Himself down for us like a bridge over our troubled waters.
Listen! He never ceases to coax us into His arms. Hear Him even now whisper to your heart: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29)